Why Tiger Woods is the Best Golfer of All Time

Tiger Woods has been playing golf since he was a baby. His accomplishments will be mirrored by no other person and he will live, and eventually die, the best golfer of all time. Let's look at Tiger's Timeline of Achievements...

1976

At only 6 months old, Tiger began imitating his father's swing after watching him golf

1978

At age 2, Tiger appeared on The Mike Douglas Show and showed off his putting and driving skills against Bob Hope

1979

3 year old Tiger shot a 48 in a round of 9 holes

1981

5 year old Tiger appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible!

1984

At age 8, Tiger won the Optimist International Junior Championship

He would win this again at 9 then, at ages 12, 13, 14, and 15

Tiger at 14

1991

At age 15, Tiger became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in golf history

He was voted Southern California's Amateur Player of the Year for the second consecutive time

Golf Digest named him Amateur Player of the Year

1992

Tiger became the first person to defend their title at the U.S. Junior National Championships (He would return the next year and defend it again)

At age 16, he competed in his first PGA Tour event at the Nissan Los Angeles Open

1994

At age 18, Tiger won the U.S. Amateur Championship at TPC Sawgrass (Youngest Winner Ever)

Enrolled in Stanford University and won his first collegiate event

1995

Defended his U.S. Amateur title

Voted PAC 10 Player of the Year

NCAA first team All-American

Won Stanford's Male Freshman of the Year Award (every sport, not just golf)

Participated in The Masters (his first PGA Tour Major) and tied for 41st (only amateur to make the cut)

1996

At age 20, Tiger became the first golfer, ever, to win the U.S. Amateur Title 3 consecutive times

Won NCAA Individual Men's Championship

Tied the British Open's record of 281 for an Amateur

Turned Pro in August and signed a $40 Million endorsement deal with Nike and a $20 Million deal with Titleist

Won the Las Vegas International and the Disney/Oldsmobile Classic, earning him almost $800,000 in only 8 events

Voted Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year

Won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year

1997

21 year old Tiger won his first Major Championship, winning The Masters (Youngest Ever) by 12 shots (His score of -18 is still the record today as well as his margin of victory)

Won 3 PGA events

Achieved World Ranking #1 in only 42 weeks as a pro

Voted PGA Player of the Year

The Associated Press voted him Male Athlete of the Year

1999

Tiger earned $6,616,585, a record for winnings in a year

Achieved 16 top-10 Finishes in 21 starts

8 PGA Victories

Won his second Major at the PGA Championship

Tiger was a member of the USA Golf Team in the Ryder Cup that staged an impossible comeback during the final day to win

Voted PGA Player of the Year and AP Male Athlete of the Year (2nd time in 3 years)

2000

At age 24, Tiger won the first two events of the year (Mercedes Championship and AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), which got him his 6th PGA Tour victory in a row (Longest streak since Ben Hogan in 1948)

Won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by, a record, 15 strokes (Record for the largest margin of victory in any Major)

Broke or Tied 9 records at the U.S. Open

Became the Tour's All Time Money Leader

Became the 5th player ever (and Youngest) to win the Grand Slam after winning the British Open by 8 strokes (His score of -19 is still the lowest at St. Andrews)

Won his second consecutive PGA Championship and third consecutive Major title

Joined Ben Hogan as one of the only two players to ever win 3 Majors in one season

2001

Won his second Masters and became the first person to be the reigning champion of all 4 Majors simultaneously

Won 5 PGA events

PGA Player of the Year for the 3rd straight year

2002

At age 26, Tiger won his second consecutive Masters (3rd Overall)

Became the youngest player in history to win 7 PGA Majors

Won his second U.S. Open

2003

Tiger came in first in 5 of the 18 Tournaments he entered

Won over $6.6 Million

2004

First player to ever pass the $40 Million mark in career earnings

Lost his #1 ranking to an unstoppable Vijay Singh, ending his Top Ranking record of 264 weeks

2005

Won the Buick Invitational (ended his slump since 2003)

Won the Masters for the 4th time (Joined Jack Nicklaus [6] and Arnold Palmer [4] as the only people to win The Masters 4 or more times)

Won the British Open for the second time (10th Major)

29 year old Tiger became the only person to join Jack Nicklaus in winning each Major at least twice

2006

Started off the season with a win (4th time) when he won the Buick Invitational

Tiger's Father, Earl, died of cancer in May and when Tiger returned to golf, he missed the cut for the U.S. Open, tying Jack Nicklaus' record at 39 Majors without missing the cut

Tiger won his 11th Major when he won the British Open for a third time

Won the Buick Open and became the youngest player to win 50 PGA events (Jack Nicklaus was 33 when he reached this mark)

Tiger won his 12th Major after winning the PGA Championship

2007

31 year old Tiger won the PGA Championship again and clinched his 13th Major

Woods was 13-0 when going into a Major in first place on the final day

Was the Inaugural FedEx Champion

2008

Tiger won the Buick Invitational for the 6th time, marking his 62nd PGA Tour Victory

Tiger won the U.S. Open for the 3rd time

Announced he would have knee surgery to repair his ACL

A fan playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 found a "glitch" in the game. EAsports assures you, this was no glitch.

Nike Commercial Featuring Earl Woods

2010

Tiger and Nike team up and shoot a controversial commercial before his return to golf

Tiger returns to The Masters and loses to Phil Mickelson

2011

Tiger won the unofficial Chevron World Challenge in December, bringing him out of a slump

2012

Tiger got his first official PGA Tour win since 2009 after defeating an elite field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (72nd win)

Tiger wins the Memorial Tournament in June and AT&T National in July

He would end up getting 3rd in the FedEx Cup rankings

Brings his World Ranking back up to 4th

2013

Tiger won 5 times, bringing his total winson the PGA tour to 79

After his wins in March, Tiger reclaimed the number 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings

He helped the US National Team win the President's Cup

Tiger won the PGA Tour Player of the Year for the 11th time

He was the PGA Tour Money Leader for the 10th time

He won his 9th Vardon Trophy (Highest Scoring Average)

Tiger won his 14th Mark H. McCormack Award (Player with the most weeks spent at #1 in a year)

2014 (As of November 3)

Started and made the cut 3 times out of 3 events but required surgery to repair a pinched nerve in his back

Missed The Masters for the first time since 1997

Despite shooting only a +1 after 3 rounds, Tiger withdrew from the WGC-Bridgestone because his swing was causing him pain. Tiger left the tournament after his drive on the 9th hole caused him to injure himself further

October 20th reports indicate that Tiger was back on the range, practicing. Hitting balls comfortably made everyone watching believe he will be back soon.

Tiger is due to compete in the Hero World Challenge December 4-7th, in Orlando

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